As the three walked back the way they had come, the Curator glanced earnestly at the detective, who seemed to have fallen into a kind of anxious dream.  Would it do to interrupt him with questions?  Would he obtain a straight answer if he did?  The old man moved heavily but the now fully alert Curator could not fail to see that it was with the heaviness of absorbed thought.  Dare he disturb that thought?  They had both reached the broad corridor separating the two galleries at the western end before he ventured to remark: 

“This discovery alters matters, does it not?  May I ask what you propose to do now?  Anything in which we can help you?”

[Illustration:  1—­Ephraim Short. 2—­Mrs. Lynch. 3—­Director Roberts. 4—­Door-man. 5—­Copyist. 6—­Mrs. Alice Lee. 7-8—­Mr. and Mrs. Draper. 9—­Mr. Coit. 10—­Mr. Simpson. 11—­Prof.  Turnbull. 12—­Second Door-man. 13—­Miss Hunsicker. 14—­Attendant. 15—­Miss Blake. 16—­Officer.]

The detective may have heard him and he may not; at all events he made no reply though he continued to advance with a mechanical step until he stood again at the top of the marble steps leading down into the court.  Here some of the uncertainty pervading his mind seemed to leave him, though he still looked very old and very troubled, or so the Curator thought, as pausing there, he allowed his glance to wander from the marble recesses below to the galleries on either side of him, and from these on to the seemingly empty spaces back of the high, carved railing guarding the great well.  Would a younger man have served them better?  It began to look so; then without warning and in a flash, as it were, the whole appearance of the octogenarian detective changed, and turning with a smile to the two men so anxiously watching him, he exclaimed with an air of quiet triumph: 

“I have it.  Follow and see how my plan works.”

Amazed, for he looked and moved like another man,—­a man in whom the almost extinguished spark of early genius had suddenly flared again into full blaze,—­they hastily joined him in anticipation of they knew not what.  But their enthusiasm received a check when at the moment of descent Mr. Gryce again turned back with the remark: 

“I had forgotten.  I have something to do first.  If you will kindly see that the people down there are kept from growing too impatient, I will soon join you with Mrs. Taylor, who must not be left on this floor after we have gone below.”

And with no further explanation of his purpose, he turned and proceeded without delay to Room B.

IV

A STRATEGIC MOVE

He found the unhappy woman quite recovered from her fainting spell, but still greatly depressed and not a little incoherent.  He set himself to work to soothe her, for he had a request to make which called for an intelligent answer.  Relieved from all suspicion of her having been an active agent in the deplorable deed he was here to investigate, he was lavish in his promises of speedy release, and seeing how much this steadied her, he turned to Mr. Roberts, who was still in the room, and then to the young lady who had been giving her a woman’s care, and signified that their attentions were no longer required and that he would be glad to have them join the people below.